Mauricio Pochettino officially started work at Chelsea on Monday (Photo: Getty)
Mauricio Pochettino says he expects Romelu Lukaku to return to Chelsea training next week and say ‘Hello’.
The former Tottenham boss officially began his new job at Stamford Bridge on Monday and has just completed the first week of pre-season training.
Much of the Chelsea squad have returned to Cobham with some exceptions being those who were recently on international duty or out on loan last season.
That includes Lukaku, who spent the 2022/23 campaign at Inter Milan where he played in the Champions League final defeat to Manchester City.
The striker returned to west London in the summer of 2021, after Chelsea paid Inter a then club-record £97million for his services.
He failed to adjust to Thomas Tuchel’s style of play though, scoring just eight Premier League goals and enraging fans by stating his desire to return to Inter just months after leaving.
He got his wish, securing a loan back to the San Siro but the 30-year-old endured a mixed time, scoring 14 in 37 games but getting mocked for some haphazard performances and horrendous misses.
Romelu Lukaku is determined to return to Inter Milan – again (Photo: Getty)
Despite this, Lukaku is determined to move back to Italy with Inter offering another loan spell, but Chelsea only want a permanent fee of around £40m, while AC Milan are also in the race for the Belgian international.
The Blues were keen to sell him to the Saudi Pro League having received several offers from clubs there, but the player has no intention of transferring there.
But a lot of this depends on whether or not Lukaku features in Pochettino’s plans, though the Argentine remained coy on this matter during his first press conference with the club on Friday.
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He did however state that he expected the player to report for pre-season training and hopes to have a conversation with him over his future soon.
He said: ‘I think the personal situations all the parties know what we think. In that case he needs to come back on the 12th or 13th [July] to be part of the squad and start pre-season.
‘When the player arrives the first thing they are doing is to come to my office to see me and say hello. That is what I expect if he is still a Chelsea player.’
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‘That is what I expect if he is still a Chelsea player.’
